Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Report: Oakland police had ‘racist’ photos of mayor and federal judge | The Raw Story

Report: Oakland police had ‘racist’ photos of mayor and federal judge | The Raw Story: A new report by a federal monitor says Oakland police had pictures altered “in a manner … found to be racist” of two officials, including the judge who placed the department under supervision.

According to The Oakland Tribune, the report by the department’s federally ordered monitor, Robert Warshaw, said the drawings, compounded by the department’s treatment of Occupy Oakland protesters last year, raise serious questions about how seriously it is taking the opportunity to clean up its act.

Warshaw’s report does not name the officials whose faces were defamed, but The Tribune is reporting that they are Oakland mayor Jean Quan, who is Asian-American and U.S. District Court Judge Thelton Henderson, an African-American. In January, Henderson ordered police chief Howard Jordan to “consult” with Warshaw on policy and tactics changes, among other areas, saying the department was “woefully behind its peers around the state and the nation.”